Educators have always used assessments to measure student growth in subjects like math, science, and reading. After all, high-quality assessments are an integral part of measuring and monitoring student growth. But what about subjects like visual arts, music, dance, and theatre? While we understand how important arts education is to the development of the whole-child, high-quality vendor assessments to measure student growth in the arts aren’t readily available. As a result, many arts educators must develop measures on their own, often without adequate assessment literacy to do so.
To support arts educators in measuring student growth, The Ohio Arts Assessment Collaborative (OAAC), a partnership including Hamilton Local Schools, West Muskingum Local Schools, and Cincinnati Public Schools, along with Battelle for Kids and The Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, has developed an innovative suite of authentic assessments for K–12 visual arts, music, dance, and drama/theatre.
Developed by Educators for Educators
More than 100 arts educators, representing more than 50 urban, rural, and suburban districts, along with members of the arts community, and arts professionals from organizations across Ohio, collaborated to develop, field-test, and provide feedback to inform the final assessments. Funded by a Straight A grant, these educators were able to engage in deep professional learning to develop and field test 45 arts assessments grounded in Ohio’s new fine arts learning standards for grades K–12. The assessments include 13 for visual arts, 14 for music, nine for drama/theatre, and nine for dance.
These new arts assessments:
- Align with arts education standards in Ohio.
- Were field-tested for validity, reliability, and ease of implementation.
- Include essential implementation resources such as administration guides, scoring rubrics, and examples of student work.
- Help capture the growth of students in subjects like visual arts, music, dance, and theatre/drama.
Learn more about this important work at bfk.org/OhioArts.